POWER Zone Innovators

#SayYestoFCS Do you remember that feeling you finally had somewhere in your twenties (hopefully sooner), where you felt like you were starting to manage adulthood? Juggling bills, school, work, family, and friends all while trying to still figure yourself out as a human being is tough. Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) education made this process a lot smoother for me than what my friends were going through in college. Knowing how to budget my money, file taxes, successfully find an apartment while confidently reading through a rental agreement, and survive on a college student’s paycheck (did I say budget?), was the best thing I learned in high school. Family Consumer Sciences has come a long way. Our roots began growing in 1899 when Home Economics was born. We continued to grow as strong women continued their formal education to establish a strong profession advocating for anything that made living easier, healthier and better for the community as a whole. In 1994,...

Quizizz and Kahoot are both game-based response systems and I love them both equally for different reasons. When my students arrive to class and I reveal that we will be playing either Quizizz or Kahoot, my students immediately become excited. Quizizz is a game-based response system that may aid in the gamification of your classroom or to just get your students excited about learning. You could easily search for a ready-made quiz,  create your own using the Quizizz database of questions, or create a quiz with your own questions. Even if you choose a ready-made quiz, you could edit the questions, delete questions, or add questions of your own. You can also set time limits, as little as 5 seconds and as much as 15 minutes, for each question individually. After the ease of setting up your quiz, Quizizz gives teachers the option of playing a live game or assigning it as "Homework." Assigning the Quizizz as "Homework" just means the students can complete...

Have you ever read a book that challenges you and encourages you to become better? That’s exactly what happened when I read The Innovator's Mindset . If you’re looking for a book that will encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, check it out. “We rarely create something different until we experience something different.” -George Couros Mindset is more important than skill set. Change your mind, change your classroom, change the world. Innovation is so crucial today because we have to keep changing. It’s important for us to adapt to our society and understand future needs. We should not still be teaching like we’re preparing students to be workers in a factory. Students need teachers that will push and challenge them to be their own thinkers, develop critical thinking skills, and collaborate effectively with others. Teachers are no longer the giver of information, but we need to innovate and shift our roles into facilitators. We need to learn to guide stude...